Status: First-time applicant
Pre-MBA industry: IT/IT Entrepreneurship
Years of experience at time of matriculation: 11
GMAT/GRE score: 760
Undergraduate GPA: 69/100
Graduate GPA: 3.3/4.0
Graduate GPA: 3.9/4.0
Admitted to: Kellogg, Stern
Scholarship(s): $50,000
My experience with Square One Prep was beyond extraordinary…
I am not a native English speaker, or creative writer, so I knew I would need help to get into a top school. Being the typical engineer I designed a plan and then built in redundancy. So when I hired Square One Prep, I also hired another consultancy (neither consultancy knew about the other). As a result, I am uniquely qualified to compare services of these MBA consulting firms. Without naming the other let me tell you that Square One Prep is in a different class. To them I wasn’t just another client. I was a person whose success they genuinely cared about. At times, they were more engaged in the admission process than I was.
I talked with Square One Prep two years before I applied. The owner stayed in touch with me to keep me on track with GMAT prep and general application schedules; the owner never scared me into buying their services like all the other consultants I was talking to tried.
Once I signed up with Square One Prep and we started work on my applications, they sent me successful resume and essay samples. When I read them I got completely disheartened. I thought those people were awesome, light years ahead of me, and that Adcoms would reject my application in favor of these types of folks any day of the week. I wanted to give up on applying, but Square One Prep encouraged me, showing me how the aspects of my life that I thought were mundane weren’t and sharing that once my resume and essays were crafted I’d see that I am just as awesome as all those other folks—to trust their process. I did.
During the most stressful time of my life my Square One Prep advisor was there as a mentor, friend, critic, and a cheerleader all rolled into one. I owe them this success in my life. My only regret is that Square One Prep does not offer headhunting services; if they did I would be set for life ?
I applied to 5 schools: Booth, Wharton, Kellogg, Stern, and Sloan. I interviewed at Kellogg, Stern and Sloan, and accepted at Kellogg and Stern—one with a full scholarship.